Prohibitions of Sefira #2

Last week we began our discussion on the restrictions of Sefiras Haomer. This week I would like to discuss the potential prohibition of listening to music during the 33 days one has taken upon himself to remember the loss of 24,000 students of Rebbe Akiva. As mentioned last week, the potential prohibition to listen to music began much later in history. As opposed to shaving and getting married, which have sources that date back close to a thousand years, the prohibition of listening to music only began being discussed 200 years ago. The Magen Avraham (1633- 1683) is the first to broach the topic. In his comments on the Shuchan Aruch's prohibition of getting married during Sefira, he extends the prohibition of the actual weddings to one of the integral parts of the wedding: dancing. The Aruch Hashulchan (1829- 1908) adds that it only seems logical to assume that if dancing is prohibited during the Sefira so too is listening to music. What emerges from this discussion is that the whole issue of listening to music is based off an extension of the prohibition of wedding and dancing. In fact, Rav Mordechai Willig, Rosh Yeshiva at YU, told me that one is permitted during Sefira to listen to music provided that his intention is not to dance. Thus, Rav Willig said, listening to music to assist you in your workout, or to make a car ride go faster, or to keep children calm is all permitted. (One caveat: if your family has a Minhag to be Machmir and not listen to music during Sefira, you are required to abide by it). However, if this is the Halacha why do a great number of people not listen to music during Sefira? Rav Moshe Feinstein in a discussion on the permissibility of listening to music year round (the Shulchan Aruch forbids it… and we can discuss this issue at a different time if people are interested) rules that it is forbidden. However, Rav Moshe realized that this ruling would be difficult for the people to abide by, and thus he advises that even if you want to be lenient during the rest of the year one should be Machmir during Sefira and the three weeks. Too often we do the mitzvah and miss the point. Mitzvos, especially those instituted by the Rabbis, were established as a means for us to achieve a lofty end. Whether you decide to listen to music or not this Sefira, let us all take time to reflect on what it means to lose 24,000 people (Sadly, this year we don't need to reflect- just the read the papers and hear the horror stories of the earthquake in China), and try to implement ways to better our Bain Adam L'chavero so a tragedy like this won't Chas V'shalom happen again